Tag: Two Minute Commute

Posted on in Business owner motivation, Customers, email marketing, infinity marketing machine, marketing, Planning, Real world

ProfitCenterCoach.com – Day 18 – Start Now!

“The future is always beginning now.” Mark Strand

Your future begins now.  Or is it Now… maybe now?

Get it?

Your future is always unveiling itself.  That means, what you do right now is super important to what your tomorrow will be.

Alrightie, enough of the hypothetical… how can you apply this?

if you want to be 10 lbs lighter, can you “wish” it to happen?  Nope.  Positive thinking will help,  but pushing away the cupcake is a better plan.

How about your email list?  We’re here to build control over our future so it’s an important topic to discuss.  A good email list will help you to communicate with your customers and build loyalty… but what is a good email list?  Is it 100 people, 800, 3,000?

All of the above. You see, a small list that is loyal is much better than a large disconnected list.  But how do you create this list?

You start.

Imagine 1 months from now being 10lbs lighter.  Well, same concept, imagine 1 month from now having 50 new people on your email list!  This is possible, but it starts today.

This is super important… Every day you need to make the effort to build your list.  Make sure your point of contact with people allows for email options… whether this is an invoice, sign up form, online form or commercial.

Switch to an email first focus.  Sometimes this seems daunting, but start with your future and past at the same time! It’s a little “chicken and egg” but go through old sources and collect the emails you’ve had – you can easily contact these people and ask to join your new list.  At the same time get the form online AND on your front counter to start collecting your now and future people — finally you can create your freemiums to really boost your results.

These very simple strategies will grow your list quickly!  But… your future starts now… I mean now… I mean now…

BTW:  Join my tribe…   start here

Posted on in Blog content, Business owner motivation, Content, Creative, Customers, marketing, Real world, Social marketing, Success tips

ProfitCenterCoach.com – Day 15 – A World Full of Yellow Fuzzy Ducklings!

“How beautiful a day can be when kindness touches it!” George Elliston

OMG I’ve brought out the cute yellow fuzzy duck.  Clearly, I’m in fighting mode.

hahaha

It’s been a rough couple weeks and I got to thinking about it yesterday.  So, hear me out.

Yesterday I was stopped in my tracks with a Eureka moment.  There as a tweet out there from our Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan.  He tweeted something about Father’s Day and the most wonderful thing that happened in his life was when his kids arrived on the planet.  Yeah, not those words, but you get my point.

Now… Paul Ryan is not one of my favorites… but here’s the scoop.  It was a nice tweet that reminded us of why we celebrate Father’s Day.  And you know what… a bunch of crabby know-it-all freaks hijacked his sentiment with swear words and their political view points of children/borders… you know the drama.

Here’s the deal.  GIVE IT A REST.

If he said “the best part of Father’s Day is…” followed by some statement of the political issue fine, have at it.  Comment away.

But this was a tweet about his personal family memory.  That’s it.  Something like a warm fuzzy duckling.

And that’s when I thought… people have forgotten how to be kind.  They simply think their opinion is to be shared 24/7 and it’s soooooo important that they can blurt out what ever the heck they want, when ever the heck they want.  JUST STOP IT.

It’s time to reel this experiment back in.  And here’s why… it’s spilled over into “the real world”.  People simply think they can say ANYTHING they want in the most crab-apple manner they choose.

There’s no way to even combat it.  People want to be angry and hostile.  They want to fight.  It’s the most bizarre thing I’ve witnessed.  And you know what… nothing has changed in our policies at the Marina since September 2017… but you know what did happen?  October, November, December, January, February, March, April and May!

Eight months have come and gone, so when we opened up this season… BOOM crazy, crabby, hostile, angry and in general ugly behavior has attacked!  I think it’s been brewing and growing over the past 8 months, so while we weren’t open… the anger kept going… until we opened our doors and the Ugly Duck waddled in and started hissing, spitting, pecking, and quacking up a storm!

Here’s a quick thing to remember… When you’re getting ready to send that crabby response OR yell at the counter agent at the airport… Think Kindness… think warm fuzzy yellow ducks.  You can communicate in a kind manner if you imagine yourself holding a teeny tiny little peeping ducky.

 

Posted on in Blog content, Business owner motivation, Creative, Customers, marketing, Real world, Success tips

ProfitCenterCoach.com – Day 11

“Never pretend to be a unicorn by sticking a plunger on your head.” Martin Espada

 

Yesterday I told you all about my coronation… a.k.a. my trip to the dentist to get a new crown.

Today I got to go to court!  Now… last week I received Novocaine, today I only got a comfortable seat.  I sat in a nice quiet air conditioned courtroom waiting for the case.  It’s amazing to watch other people’s hearings and see their life journey completely altered.  The hearing before ours had a man sentenced to jail for 30 days.

The only thing I could think was… it must be super surreal to have a judge ask, “when shall we schedule your sentence to begin” – honestly? schedule?  Like you’re checking into a hotel… so so strange.

I sat there because last summer we had a group rent a pontoon, the driver was arrested for DUI and in the process they smashed our rental boat into a dock.  It was quite the ordeal… I received three phone calls from around the lake about our boat speeding through the channels.  Yes, by law we’re required to have our name on the side of the boat.  It’s one of those moments you’re not so happy to have your last name on a boat… roll eyes.

So I was actually on the phone with a person telling me about the erratic behavior of the driver when the boat arrived at our dock… but when I looked out the window, the boat had arrived… and oh my gosh, it was quite an eyeful!  The dude was peeing, right there, middle of marina, for all to see.

I suppose I could have posted a photo… OH YES.  I took a video of it!

Why am I sharing this crazy story… well… I sat in the court room and watched both the driver and renter change their story from their filed reports, right there on the stand.  I don’t go to court often, so I find it absolutely amazing.  Please don’t ruin my naivete, I’d rather live in a world where that’s still a shocking thing…

So… will we get paid for the damage to the boat?

Time will tell.

Here were my two thought… 1) Sometimes you need to do these type of “housekeeping” type items for your business… even though it might not be cost effective.  2) it’s awful, but I couldn’t help to think as I watched that man on the stand change his story… I give it two years and I bet he will find himself back in a hearing just like the guy from the first case, you know… scheduling his “hotel” appointment!

Yep… my life is still crazy and I’m still on a mini-break… more soooooon!

Posted on in Blog content, Business owner motivation, Content, Customers, marketing, Success tips

ProfitCenterCoach.com – Day 10

“Opportunities are never lost; someone will take the one you miss.”

 

You wake up busy… you eat lunch busy… and then you go to sleep busy… have you ever wonder what opportunities you give up because you’re busy?

That was what I was thinking of today.  You see my jaw finally does not hurt.  I had to go to the dentist last week, for my coronation.  Get it?  I needed a new crown.  haha.

OK it gets funnier.

As I’m getting my tooth completely cranked on (remember six days later my jaw finally stopped hurting) – I realized, it was less painful having a new crown than it was talking to a customer I encountered the night before… why? My dentist uses Novocaine!

It’s pretty darn bad when you realize that a customer is so intensely painful that you’d rather go through a crown replacement than deal with them… but that’s what happened!

The next step then is to realize, how many other things would I rather be doing that are ENJOYABLE than deal with that customer?  Well, pretty much anything that makes money vs. costs money is the right alternative!  And that’s the equation to focus on.

When you discover you have a “coronation customer”, you’ve got to focus on two things… first, what the heck got you to the situation and second, how to prevent it.

Well, here’s my story… I got to the point that people returning our rental boats late were overwhelming!  It really sucks to have to wait 3 hours because someone simply decides to not come back.  The important thing to focus on is… what change did I make to prevent it?  HA!  I tripled our late fee!

And that’s where the coronation customer came into the picture.  She was ANGRY… spitting mad… actually furious that the late fee was tripled!  Now, she was mad at me BEFORE she started her cruise… she wasn’t late encountering the fee… this was before she ever received the key for the boat!   You know why she was so mad???  She was planning to be late!  Because when I said, “well, unless you’re planning to be late, the price of the late fee is irrelevant” oh… she was… well…

Let’s just say, she won’t be signing up for my fan club anytime soon… but it did solve my late boat problem (so far) so I won’t be needing another coronation for a while… I hope!

Yes Yes Yes… I’m still on a mini-break… more soon…

Posted on in Business owner motivation, Content, Creative, goals, marketing, Real world

ProfitCenterCoach.com – Day 9

Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames ~ Rumi

Spending about 5 hours in the dark will give you perspective!  Or a little sleep… After the storm hit, I finally got the power back at about 2 AM.  You know that feeling you wake up and want to turn off the lights but have NO desire to get up to do it?  Yeah, that was me!

But it’s a little strange to sit in a quite house and not be able to do anything electronic.  I mean, your phone is there, but you kind of want to preserve the battery so if you need to check the radar in the next storm you can… but you really want to watch Netflix… and then you have a brilliant thought, well, if the battery goes dead I can just plug my phone into my car and drive around!

I’m sure this is fascinating insight… haha!

Why the fire theme for today?  We had fire training at the boat yard.  What a wonderful service that our local fire department provides to us.  They come over and teach our crew how to put real fires out with fire extinguishers.

It just makes you wonder how your business can help others.  Seek out those opportunities and make an impact!  Even if it’s a simple download “how to” guide you post on your website.  Being a resource really helps you become a leader in your industry.

In other words… be the one that fans the flames for someone else.

And remember you can use your car to recharge your phone so you can watch Netflix in a power outage!

Posted on in Business owner motivation, marketing

ProfitCenterCoach.com – Day 7

“Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught.”

Something very strange is going on in my world.  I want to know if others are experiencing a complete lack of truth in some of their customer interactions. Now… I’m always one to say, “find new customers” create an avatar, move on…

But this is different.  It feels like something has changed.

I received a “negative” review last week… the review is comical.  It’s so “out there” that you laugh.

The man said I “demanded” a $20,000 late fee?  What?

My Version: A renter called and lied to get me on the phone.  He said his boat died and he was floating in the middle of the lake (during a very big storm).  This call took me away from getting people to our docks safely.  I got on the phone, the renter’s boat worked fine!!!!  The customer was at a dock and he asked about getting a ride, leaving the boat or simply waiting for the storm to end… then he asked how much is the boat worth?  I answered, $20,000…  some how,  from my lips to his keyboard the fish got VERY big.

There are more stories… but I’ll save those for now.

Here’s my advice: If you’re going to write a negative review. Stick to the facts.

If someone writes a review about you and it sounds crazy… it’s actually the best gift ever. No one, I repeat, NO ONE you want to work with will believe the crazy words.

Can you see why I’m on a mini-break?  It’s not really “fun” but it’s necessary!  More info soon…

 

Posted on in Blog content, Business owner motivation, Customers, marketing, Success tips

ProfitCenterCoach.com – Day 6!

“Groups of people are like a massive Rock, Paper, Scissors war.” Daniel

HA!  I came across this quote and thought “it’s perfect”.

My day was filled with a bunch of people with various problems.  And… you know what?!!? Looking back at my day, it felt like a giant game of rock, paper, scissors!  haha.

So next time you feel like you’re struggling in the middle of a bunch-o-muck… silently think, “Rock, Paper, Scissors!”

I’m enjoying my quiet time…thanks again, more soon!